Kim Jong-Il Funeral: Fake Mourners in North Korea?

Limousine carrying a portrait of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il leads his funeral procession in Pyongyang
Reuters

Communist North Korea said goodbye to its leader Kim Jong-il on Wednesday. He died on Dec. 17, to the delight of many outside the totalitarian state.

But video seen of his funeral procession on a cold, snowy day in the capital of Pyohgyang shows that many in North Korea were apparently moved to tears by his death and funeral procession.

The video shows soldiers with faces full of emotion, and citizens lining the street in tears. Many journalists suspect the tears are fake -- from actors planted by the government.

Some, however, say the tears are real. Because North Korea is closed off the to rest of the world, a psychologist from the University of Michigan suggests the nation's citizens are removed from reality, and likely were moved to tears by the passing of their Dear Leader.

They have no alternative form of reality, Scott Atran said, according to The Voice of Russia.